Post Covid Club Mergers or Changed League Structure

TangerineDream

TangerineDream

Well-known member
With many clubs struggling during the current crisis and most League 1 and 2 professional teams technically insolvent at the moment plus Bolton looking doomed, Tranmere struggling, Charlton ???, Southend Not paying players even before COVID.

I am wondering if now is the time for some football mergers and acquisitions - I know it has been mooted in the past but fans have howled potential mergers down - what do others feel on here about potential club mergers - Fleetwood and Kirkham perhaps as Fylde and Wyre United, Bolton and Bury or Bolton and Chorley, Southport and Burscough as West Lancashire remember many of our major clubs were formed from mergers back in Victorian times including BFC, if not mergers then what about a new structure for L1, L2 and Conference any other suggestions. I know there were plans back in the day to merge Oldham and Rochdale to challenge City and United but this never came to much.

We could face a very different football landscape with clubs merging for survival to stay professional or a different league structure based on L1 North L1 South L2 North and L2 South with better (derby type) gates and less travel for fans.

Here are my key merger clubs by geography but not going across county lines ie Mansfield and Chesterfield although that would make sense

Bolton + Chorley or Bury
Morecambe and Lancaster (surely the most obvious as its the same "city" and council and the grounds are only a few miles apart
Southend + Both Canvey Teams (currently makes no sense)
Kirkham and Fleetwood. (Fylde and Wyre)
Macclesfield and Northwich (North Cheshire)
Gillingham and Maidstone
Torquay and Exeter (Devon County)
Chesterfield and Burton
Rotherham and Doncaster
Scunthorpe and Grimsby

I guess its even more likely in Scotland!
 
Inverness Calley Thistle was formed by merger 25 years ago, one of the few of recent times. Took a long time for the two sets of fans to get on, but after 99/00, when they beat Celtic in the "Super Calley go ballistic, Celtic were atrocious" game, a clear identity was established.

I'd personally hate it if it was us, but if it was a choice between that and closing ??????
 
On a counterpoint: these aren’t mergers, more like swallowing whole

If Chorley/Bury fans wanted to support Bolton they’d support Bolton etc etc

They presumably want to support their team for the reasons we all do ... community, identity, pride etc. Believe me, nobody in Lancaster wants to be subsumed into Morecambe.

Can you remember the knicker-wetting in St Anne’s when the (entirely sensible and correct) idea of having a ‘greater Blackpool’ council came up?

The answer isn’t in mergers, it’s in controlling costs
 
Tangerinemoss said:
Inverness Calley Thistle was formed by merger 25 years ago, one of the few of recent times. Took a long time for the two sets of fans to get on, but after 99/00, when they beat Celtic in the "Super Calley go ballistic, Celtic were atrocious" game, a clear identity was established.

I'd personally hate it if it was us, but if it was a choice between that and closing ??????
Click to expand...

Always loved that Super Cally headline
 
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